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Battles of Rzhev
The Battles of Rzhev were a series of battles fought through out 1942 between the German army group center an the Red armies western front and the Kalinin front, front being the soviet name for an army group. Causality figures on both sides were so high the battles have become known as the "Rzhev meat grinder", and in a testament to the brutality of the Russian front of the Second world war, a battle that cost nearly a million lives alone goes nearly unnoticed in the anals of history. Lead up In late 1941 the German armies had come to within 8 km (5 miles) of Moscow before being forced back by soviet counter attacks. The German 9th army, under the command of Field marshal Model, held its positions around the towns of Rzhev and Vyazma north of Moscow. This produced a bulge in the Soviet-German lines and both sides sought to control of the town of Rzhev due to it being the hub of the local rail network. The bulge therefore was a spring board for the Germans to make another attack at Moscow in the summer and Soviets new it. Following the Battle of Moscow the Soviet high command focused its attention and reserves of men and material on this bulge. The Battle Rzhev–Vyazma Strategic Offensive Operation (8 January – 20 April 1942) The first operation against the salient began on the 8th January and was conducted by the Kalinin front. The attack was not aimed at breaking through the German lines and reaching Rzhev, instead it was aimed at capturing the first line of defenses and at grinding down the Germans. It was also to keep the Germans on the defensive. By the end of the month the Soviets found themselves 110km inside the German defenses to the west of Rzhev. This presented an danger to the German flank and as such German forces were re positioned to destroy the new threat. Other Soviet attacks The Sychyovsk-Vyazma Offensive, Operation Jupiter and the Vyazma airbourne operation were all follow up operation that lasted the rest of the year and were all aimed at grinding down the Germans and slowly advancing towards Rzhev. Operation Seydlitz (2–23 July 1942) During this time the Germans hadnt been idle. They counter attacked the threat presented to their flank. The operation lasted 11 days during witch time the Germans first encircled then split the soviet troops into smaller and smaller pockets gradually destroying the soviet forces whole sale. July-August 1942 The fighting continued until august 1942 when the soviets were forced to halt and re group. These operations had failed to acheieve the goal of recapturing the towns of Rzhev and Vyazma and had resulted in 291,000 casualties for the Soviets. For the Germans however the situation was not good either, they had been pushed back to a very dangerous position and were at risk of being surrounded, They had also suffered 20,000 casualties of their own. This doesnt seem to bad compaired to the Soviet losses but they no longer had the ability to counter attack due to reserves being diverted to the army group south for Operation Bleu and the Soviets could replace their losses, the Germans couldn't. Operation Mars (25 November and 20 December 1942) The final offensive was operation Mars and the Soviets intended to finally surround and destroy the German 9th army, such was the fate of the 6th army at the battle of Stalingrad, Soviet artillery fire was inaccurate and inconsistent due to poor viability, The attack from the east slowly ground its way forward from the positions captured earlier that year. The northern attack made very little progress due to poor artillery support and German doggedness. The two western attacks fared much better penetrating deep into the German positions. However the advance was still much less than the soviets planned. This was due to the Germans stubbornly refusing to give up their strong points even after the soviets advanced past them. Eventually the soviets were forced to withdraw and most of the lost ground was recaptured and several thousand Soviets were cut off behind German lines. Aftermath The final soviet casualties were over 700,000 casualties, German casualties were just 100,000. The battles of Rzhev had little impact on the eastern front especially as the fight for Stalingrad raged on. Category:Battles Category:Battles in the Eastern Front Category:1942